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Former dispatcher gets jail time

A former Hubbard County dispatcher/jailer was sentenced to 15 days in jail, ordered to make $3,000 in restitution and will be on probation for 10 years after pleading guilty to depleting her ex-husband's bank account.

Lana-Jo Lynn O'Bannon, 44, who now goes by the name of Lana Johnson, pled guilty last month to a felony charge of Financial Transaction Card Fraud in Hubbard County District Court. Friday she received a 10-year stay of adjudication.

Two other felony counts were dismissed against her in a plea agreement.

O'Bannon's ex-husband filed a complaint in 2010 when he returned from three months of work in Alaska to discover several thousand dollars missing from his bank account. The couple divorced in July 2010.

Dale Yliniemi was the only authorized signatory on the account, the complaint stated.

The plea deal also calls for her to pay $500 toward the cost of prosecution.

Because she had no criminal history, Judge Paul Rasmussen said if she is law abiding during her probation, part of which will be supervised and part unsupervised, the charge could eventually be dismissed.

Because O'Bannon served as a jailer in Hubbard County, Rasmussen gave her the option of serving her time locally or in another facility at her own expense. She has until April 13 to report to jail.

Rasmussen did not order O'Bannon to refrain from using drugs or alcohol and she will not be subject to random testing, which is usually a standard probationary condition.

Drugs and alcohol "doesn't appear to have played a role in this or in her life," defense attorney Kevin Beck said.

O'Bannon left the department shortly after the charges were filed. She is now married to the county's former K-9 officer Jeremiah Johnson. He was released from duty in the spring of 2011 and now works at Leech Lake.